Mourinho listed the number of games Rashford has played for the club since he took charge.

He then targeted three other English players of a similar age to bring his points into context.

“Marcus is not Dominic Solanke, not Ruben Loftus-Cheek, not Dominic Calvert-Lewin, he's Marcus Rashford, a Manchester United player," scathed Mourinho. "With an incredible number of appearances and an incredible number of minutes played at the highest level in the best possible competitions.

“So Manchester United supporters, for you and just for you, to know what we are doing with Marcus, Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, that's what we are doing here.”

His extraordinary rant didn't take long to reach the ears of United's fans, who were positively enthralled by it.

One supporter tweeted: "Mourinho is bang on about this Rashford not playing enough b*******, given countless opportunities and hasn’t taken them to be a regular. Look at the FA cup final last season, p*** poor."

Another posted: "Just watched Mourinho press conference and the confidence he has in Rashford is class."